Auction Name: 2026 June 19 The John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 42097

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6331*42097

John Quincy Adams Autograph Letter Signed ("John Quincy Adams"). One page of a bifolium, 7 1/2 x 8 7/8 inches. Quincy; September 27, 1805. Docketed on verso.

Adams writes to Justus Bush Smith regarding a long-overdue promissory note, reminding him of prior assurances of payment and advising him of his expected arrival in New York to settle the balance. He pens, in full:

"Sir.

When I was last in New York, you informed me that in the course of the present Summer, you would certainly raise a sum sufficient to pay me the interest, and one half the principal due upon your note to me - In consideration of this promise, I consented again to defer a payment, which you had repeatedly promised should be made before that time - But this postponement has been at extreme inconvenience to myself, and I then told you I should rely on the receipt of the amount you then engaged to procure, in the course of the present year - I now write to let you know that on the 15th: of November I expect to be in New York, and shall then depend on receiving the money - It is extremely painful to me, to be under a necessity of reminding you again, of what you so often have assured me should be discharged long before this - But I have debt of my own which must be paid, and it is from your hands that I must expect the means for discharging them.

I am with respect, Sir, your very humble & obedt: Servt:
John Quincy Adams."

The debt had been outstanding for some time, with multiple promises of payment unmet. Adams's tone is controlled but increasingly firm, noting that he had already granted repeated extensions at personal inconvenience. The expectation is now explicit: payment is to be made upon his arrival in New York in November.

The urgency is not merely procedural. Adams makes clear that his own obligations depend on the funds, shifting the matter from courtesy to necessity. The language remains formal, but the persistence of the request and the reference to prior assurances underscore the strain of a debt long deferred.

Condition: Fine overall. Flattened folds, with a few small separations thereat; minor offset toning to both leaves at the right margin and a few scattered marks. Wax seal remnant on docket.

References: John Quincy Adams to Justus Bush Smith, 27 September 1805," Founders Online, National Archives; Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (New York: Knopf, 1949).

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